


Dissatisfaction Town

by SteinShipping61



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Asperger Syndrome, Autism, Bisexual Male Character, Depression, Gay Male Character, M/M, Psychological Trauma, Psychology, Satisfaction Town, Team Satisfaction, The Enforcers - Freeform, Treasonshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21987370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteinShipping61/pseuds/SteinShipping61
Summary: After Kiryu became the head of former Crash Town, there was still a lot of work to recover from years of depression.Who better to help than his best friend Yusei Fudo, who rekindles the fire within his heart.Eventual treasonshippig.
Relationships: Fudou Yuusei/Kiryuu Kyousuke, Jack Atlas/Fudou Yuusei, treasonshipping
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	1. The Skype Call

Kiryu Kyosuke sat in his new lodgings, the large open plan apartment above the town hall. Formerly lived in by Malcom and very briefly Lotin, he had his work cut out for him disposing of old snot rags and discarded clothes, gingerly picking them up with kitchen tongs and binning them with a smug good riddance. The most amusing thing he'd found so far was a whip and a pair of Barbara's lacy underwear. And he hadn't even cleaned under the bed yet.

His laptop buzzed from the corner and he slid into the deck chair, firing it up. On the screen read the Skype logo and an incoming call from Yusei. Of course he had to accept. Yusei's stupid face popped up dressed in his tank top. Kiryu considered it must be late evening in Japan, he of course wouldn't be dressed for outside.

" _Hey, Kiryu!"_ He smiled from the screen.

"Good evening," Kiryu shrugged, fighting the urge to down a mouthful from the bottle of whiskey stationed right beside the laptop. "What can I do you for?"

Adopting the western twang of the town, of all things. _Switching from English to Japanese and back again is hard._ He thought, the primary action of someone who spent literally all his life living inside his own head.

_"Just calling to see how my old friend is doing,"_ Yusei smiled. _"It gets lonely sometimes without you. Of course the other guys are great! But I miss that..."_

"Maturity?" Kiryu offered helpfully with a twitch of a smile, learning back in his chair and crossing his arms all serious-like.

" _Yeah,"_ Yusei agreed. " _Sometimes you miss the serious, quiet life when you're caught up in all this chaos,"_

"Plenty of chaos in this end I assure you,"

_"So I noticed you avoided my question of how you're doing?"_

Kalin stiffened, coughing awkwardly into his own hand. "You know, just kind of stressed. Nothing important! Just the move and everything...taking over the town...responsibility blah blah blah,"

*

Yusei's brow furrowed worriedly. Not only was Kiryu the most irresponsible person he'd ever known, but the man was incredibly fragile and barely recovered from a massive long-term depressive episode. Literally attempting to commit suicide through torture and exhaustion leaves a person vulnerable to falling into traps of their own design.

"And you're still sober right?" Yusei demanded, searching every inch of Kiryu's face for a lie. He didn't need to, because instead of answering Kiryu just looked away and shamefully pursed his lips.

"Kiryu!" Yusei scolded.

" _Yusei, I-"_

"I don't want to hear it," he snapped back. "What did we decide you should do if you ever fell of the wagon? If those thought of yours started coming back?!"

Kiryu caught himself before he rolled his eyes over the call. If he did that Yusei would have his head. _"Call you. Talk it over. Whatever Yusei, I'm under a lot of stress,"_

"I know," Yusei nodded in affirmation. "That's why I'm coming over,"

_"What?!"_ Kiryu demanded incredulously, almost falling out his desk chair at the utter weirdness of the statement. _"Yusei, you can't just come to America randomly from Japan whenever you want!"_

"Why not?"

_"Because that's not what happens! People don't just do that!"_

"Since when are we 'people' Kiryu?" Yusei offered, shakil his head. "I don't care what you say. I'll be down his weekend,"

Kiryu watched his face soften from stern to caring, eyes wetting with pre-tears preparing to fall. "I care about you. I want to help, Kiryu,"

Kiryu sighed, rubbing his forehead as he realised he'd have to pencil in an unscheduled visit among the three million other things he had to do that week. Freeing five hundred slaves from a mining mountain and prosecuting half the town over it was eating away at any possible free time. _"Fine, Yusei. Okay, let's do it,"_ he decided. " _Listen I need to go. I...you know..."_

"I know," Yusei nodded. "Me too,"

Kalin gave an American-style salute. _"Over and out,"_

Yusei shook his head with a smile and ended the Skype call. Three years hiding out in America and Kiryu remained the most culturally uneducated, awkward Asian stereotype in existence. One would think he'd learned how to behave in the West from watching James Bond films - and as if happened that was accurate.

From the second floor, Jack demanded. "Yusei, come to bed, what's taking so long?!"

Yusei looked up to the balcony and shot a reserved smile at his lover. Climbing the stairs and slinking into bed, he cuddled against Jack's side, leaning in the crook of his shoulder. Feeling safe and protected. "Hey Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I was talking to Kiryu and..." Jack shot up, having suspected in a jealous paranoia this was going to happen for some time.

"You are _not going_ to America!"

"Jack!" Yusei whined. "He's going through things and he needs me to help him out. I don't have any feelings for him I promise!"

Jack growled. "It's not you I'm worried about," he scoffed, leaning over to turn off the light. "Let Kiryu deal with his own shit. This always happens. You throw yourself into his situation and all he does is drag you down to his twisted level!"

Yusei glared, ripping away and turning around to face away from Jack on the cold, unforgiving side of the bed. "I'm going to America this weekend,"


	2. The Arrival

The Duel Runner roared and spat dirt from under its wheel as Yusei rode across the desert, striving to beat the setting sun. He spotted the town in the distance, buried among jagged rocks with the only visible sign hanging before the rows of centuries-old houses. _Satisfaction Town_ it read, perched upon which sat a raven craved in wood. Yusei stopped at the gate, parking his runner to the side and getting off, picking out his duel disk.

The landscape remained as depressing as he remembered but the people didn't. Market stalls lined the walkway led my smiling figures, their scars from The Facility proving no hindrance to finding work. Children ran in the street, laughing and playing with their parents, visible marks on their wrists from being previously held captive in the mines. "Excuse me?" Yusei called to one of them, who turned to see.

"Woah, are you a duelist?!" The kid asked.

"Yeah, are you?" Yusei smiled.

"Yeah, my dad is teaching me!"

Of course. The town of duellists raising duellists. Some things hadn't changed. "Do you know where Kiryu is?"

The kind smiled and nodded, raising a hand to point to the tavern. "In there!"

_Shit,_ Yusei sighed. "Thanks kid," he ran for the tavern, opening it to find Kiryu with his old hang boss, sharing a drink across the table.

"Yusei!" Kiryu barked in alarm when he noticed the dejected man standing by the door, intense eyes flashing a shocked glare at him, mouth pulled in a disappointed frown.

Kiryu wondered how he must look, when Yusei was still so beautiful. So perfect and pretty, barely ageing a day except to get more ruggedly handsome, his commanding presence exuding power and confidence that Yusei was too moral to even notice. "I thought... weren't you coming on Saturday?"

"Kiryu, it is Saturday,"

"Oh,"

Radley clapped him on the back, smiling knowingly between him and Yusei. "Our new town mayor can be forgetful," he pauses, swaying slightly on his drunken feet. "I'll see you later, Kiryu,"

"Of course," he nodded, gesturing to the now empty seat which Yusei filled.

"I never should have left after all that happened..." Yusei sighed, reflecting into the muddy water of the drink sitting between them. "I should have stayed for a while after we reclaimed the town. Made sure you were okay,"

"I _am_ okay," Kiryu assured him unconvincingly, looking down at his own hand, which shook in anger. "I'm drinking again - fine. But I'm the mayor of a town now. I have responsibilities that I keep. I'm rebuilding this into something better for the people who's lives I destroyed!"

Calmly, Yusei shook his head. "So that's it," he stood up, poncho swooping down from his shoulders and around his thighs. "You still haven't forgiven yourself,"

Kiyu calmed down, looking down as the sky darkened outside. He breathed deeply, exhaling out the pressure against his skull. A cathartic release of all that emotion. Not anger or aggression, but loneliness and frustration. Staring at this perfect man in front of him, less than an arms length away that might as well have been an entire universe. "Maybe,"

"Go home, Kiryu, you're drunk," Yusei ordered disappointedly. He knew how much Kiryu hated that, how devastated he was whenever he disappointed Yusei, when he exposed that vulnerable part of himself. "We'll talk in the morning,"

Yusei walked out but Kiryu followed swiftly, kicking up the dirt of the street he stumbled out onto. "Yusei!" He called, and the shorter man turned to face him. "The rules aren't what they used to be here. We can Duel any time, and it'll be safe. Just... letting you know,"

He couldn't see Yusei's face, but the wind began to whip around him as he turned back, walking away into the town, dissolving into a spec of dust in the horizon. "Goodnight, Kiryu,"


	3. Stress

Yusei opened the creaky door to Kiryu's ranch, looking around the blackness of his lower floor. It was all one room, wood-panelled with sparse but comfortable furniture lying around. Yeah, it suited Kiryu.

"Hey, I'm here!" He called, looking upstairs where more shadows reached from. He climbed up, calling Kiryu's name as he did and finding him in the large lounge/ bedroom sleeping at his desk, paperwork strewn around him. Yusei shook his head and picked up one sheet, one that was just sticking out under his elbow. He frowned when it read Town Tax Reimbursement Plan: Shindou Mount Conversion. Mount Conversion? Yusei wondered if that meant the mine drilled inside the town mountain, still functioning. "Hey, are you gonna wake up now?" He flicked Kiryu's cheek and the man woke up. 

"Hm," he stretched his arms out. "Morning Yusei. What time is it?"

"It's 13:20, you idiot," Yusei shook his head, taking the empty seat beside Kiryu. "What's with this file?" He asked, more casually than he meant to.

"Oh, that. Well, I'm trying to find suppliers - legal ones - for the substance in the mines. Hopefully it'll bring some jobs and industry to the town. But we need funding to... improve things in there," he explained awkwardly. He knew Yusei would understand, but one thing he wasn't used to was sharing random problems with another human being. That seemed too far, and he drew his knees to his chest in discomfort, and it gave him an idea to ponder. "Hey,"

"Yeah?" Yusei asked, a smile spreading on his face. Kiryu looked up to the mount on the walls before him, random fragments of paper stuck to a poster board. With a small tear he pulls off a picture of _Team Satisfaction_ in this glory days, a grainy monochrome one.

"Remember when you used to wire up the TV to the Domino Mainline and we'd watch illegal Death Note?" He asked with a broadening grin. Yusei didn't miss the mischief flashing in his eyes.

"Yeah. Why?" He asked, guarded.

"Wanna watch legal Death Note and binge market fruit?"

"Fuck - how do you know me so well?" Yusei chuckled a little, taking Kiryu's laptop over to the couch and typing in the url while Kiryu ran downstairs to collect every morsel of sweet fruit in that house.

They watched from the beginning, because Death Note was always something to re-watch, and shared a large bowl of fruit between them. They flipped over Kiryu's couch, a blanket pulled over them. Despite being warm and humid during daylight, high winds made the town chilly at night. "So Yusei, what's the deal with you and Jack?" He asked eventually, predictive disappointment in his voice. "Are you a couple?"

Yusei frowned deeply, brow furrowed in worry. He was here to help Kiryu, to be his supportive friend. But now he had to bring up Jack, and the past, and he wasn't even drunk! He stared at the man with the frosty hair whose eyes swam with sadness but retained their wonderful spark of psychosis that made Kiryu that little more exciting. Something that had always attracted Yusei. Now it just made him afraid and uncertain, weary of Kiryu's reaction. "Yeah, Kiryu. We are," he admitted with a heavy voice. The weight of his words seemed to pile onto his shoulders, not stopping for anything.

"Hah! I knew it, he'd make you his," Kiryu laughed, one that sounded happy but Yusei knew better. It was saturated with bitterness. "What, the King always gets what he wants?"

"He calls me his Stardust Knight," Yusei smiles, picturing Jack in his mind, hair dishevelled from morning wood, collarbones visible under loose bedclothes.

"Of course he does," Kiryu hissed. "Bastard always loved to be dramatic,"

It was times like this Kiryu reminded him of Jack - they had always had some unspoken rivalry over the competition of Yusei's heart. "What about you?" Yusei asked, trying to change the subject. "Any men in your life I should know about?"

"Like hell," Kiryu scoffed, fingers trembling on the armrest. His breathing was getting heavier - he was having withdrawals. "Who'd wanna date this train wreck?"

"Hm, what about Radley?" Yusei asked innocently. "The two of you seemed pretty close." At the bar.

"Nah. I mean he pursued me but I wasn't interested in sleeping with the guy," he head fell on Yusei's shoulder, curling up into his side. A nostalgic position, his hair falling into Yusei's front. "I'm tired,"

"No," Yusei sits up, pulling the blanket off the puppy-man cuddling up to him. "I'm only here until Sunday night. I want to help you as much as I can, and if I'm going to do that we need to start now,"

"So developing mental health begins with an all-nighter?" Kiryu asked sceptically.

"Yeah. Just trust me, okay?"

"Fine," Kiryu relented. "What do you want me to do?"


	4. Therapy Session

"We're going to try some talking therapy," Yusei explained, sitting opposite Kiryu on the couch. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and knew it was Jack. He ignored it, knowing he'd be irritated. An issue for future him to deal with. "Do you know what CBT is?" 

"Cognitive behavioural therapy," Kiryu rolled his eyes, focusing on a singular spot in the floor. What the Hell qualified Yusei to act like this? He hated being treated like a condescending child - the entire reason his relationship with Yusei collapsed. "They tried to therapize me in the Facility. What the fuck does that have to do with my alcoholism?" 

  
"Well, you're drinking for a reason and CBT will help you identify and remove unhelpful thoughts relating to your alcoholism. Why do you drink, Kiryu?" Yusei asked, aware of how much he sounded like a cult recruiter. Yes, come to the Mormon church and we'll cure your depression... 

  
"I drink because..." Kiryu frowned, sitting back in surprise as he found no answer in his head. Even when he thought about it, the catalyst to his drinking problem escaped him. "It helps numb the pain," that sounded too generic, he could see how that was unhelpful. He opened his mouth to elaborate but Yusei shut him up by reaching over with lightning reflexes and clamping his hand over Kiryu's mouth. 

  
"No," 

  
"Mmmmpf!" 

  
Yusei smiled slightly. "Those kind of statements are exactly what I want - don't think about it too much, and the more detail you go into the more shit I have to wade through to get to the point," he released Kiryu's mouth, the frosty-haired man sitting there pouting. "It numbs the pain, that's what you mean," 

  
Kiryu slowly nodded. 

  
"Well, what causes you pain?" 

  
"What do you think?" he glared at Yusei. He knew what caused Kiryu pain, they'd been Skyping about it. And he was directly involved in half of it! "Everything, every shitty little thing that's happened to us," 

  
Yusei shook his head. "We don't talk about the past in CBT. I know you have a lot of issues from your past, but I need to know what's triggering you to drink now,"

"I guess..." Kiryu groaned. He wasn't good at talking about his problems, at least not in the conversational sense. He could monologue sure, but the intimacy of conversation was kind of overstimulating.

Yusei had Aspergers, he knew that, but he was beginning to expect he also had some sort of social issue like attachment disorder. He refuses to let this therapy be one-sided, he's analysing Yusei too. "I guess it's the rebuilding of the town. There's so much shit to do and I keep running into obstacles. It's frustrating when I've worked so hard and all I have left is anti-climactic admin work nobody appreciates. I spend hours doing this every day and that's why I drink, to numb the shitty feelings that causes," 

  
"Great!" Yusei clapped happily. 

  
"Great?" How incredulous. Identifying the cause of his drinking surely doesn't solve shit. 

  
"I don't mean-" he sighed. "I mean this is a really good breakthrough for therapy! We've figured out what the real problem is and now we can deal with it," 

  
"Can't we just do Twelve-Step or something?" Kiryu rolled his eyes, not sharing Yusei's excitement. "I'm not good at this therapy bull," 

  
"Twelve-Step and AA don't work, they have a very high fail rate," Yusei scoffed. "We're doing CBT for a reason. Okay, we've identified the problem. Now we can solve it,"

Kiryu was beginning to see the thrill Yusei got from this. Therapy is problem-solving, just like physics and maths, exactly what Yusei excelled in. And he was using CBT, a problem-solving method that didn't rely on ambiguous stuff like the psychodynamic approach. He sighed, Yusei was so easy to figure out.

Yusei sees that Kiryu isn't responding and asks a different question. "Can you see how damaging that kind of thinking is? It's unrealistic too. Alcohol doesn't numb your pain, it brings more pain," 

  
"How?" 

  
"Well it prevents you from being productive, or as productive as you would be without it. Which increases the pressure and decreases the results. You get less work done, and that just makes your workload worse," 

  
That... actually made a lot of sense. Kiryu never realised, or maybe he just didn't think about it, but that might have been the cause of all his weird stressful situations. Like when he forgot to send the contracts over to the holding company that deals with all their land revenue - he was drunk that night, and that led to a huge shitstorm with phone calls and late fees that came out of his pocket. Plus, he knew he got really bad withdrawal symptoms which included stress and depression, just adding to his actual clinical depression. 

  
"Yeah, I can see how that's damaging..." he admitted reluctantly, kinda pissed that Yusei's escapade was working. He'd hoped he'd get the satisfaction from watching another plan of his friend's crash and burn, but this was a rare occasion Yusei was actually being helpful, and not just being pretentious. "You're right, Yusei," 

  
Yusei smiled and looked at the clock, gasping slightly in surprise. "We've been talking for 50 minutes," 

  
"Oh," he feels like 5 minutes. 

  
"That's an entire therapy session!" Yusei turned over on the couch, stretching. "We can talk more tomorrow, but then it's up to you," 

  
"Wait, what?" 

  
"Well you didn't think we'd cure your alcoholism in a weekend, did you?" Yusei chuckled. "I'm here to help you help yourself once you're alone. I thought you knew that?" 

  
Kiryu had known, but had forced the thought form his mind. He had, he supposed, deliberately forgotten that Yusei had to leave and return to Japan, he didn't want it to be real. And to cope with that, he'd been treating this like an initial therapy session with a permanent psychologist, at least one he'd be seeing for the duration of the near future. He was trying to protect himself, but that's just made it worse. And it made him want to drink more now. 

  
"Well, now that our 'session is over'," Yusei smiled at him, oblivious to his inner feelings. Yusei never was great at understanding the feelings of others, especially recognising them from facial emotions. He likely just thought Kiryu was deep in thought or something, rather than falling into despair. "We can sleep now! And good, cause I'm really tired,"

  
"Eh, good," Kiryu stands. "I'll have the couch... or the desk, you can sleep on my bed..."

  
Yusei wrinkled his nose at the thin, balled-up blankets on Kiryu's bed. "Your bed is gross. I'll take the couch," 

  
"Noted," Kiryu nodded, going over to his bed and ready to collapse into the sheets, immediately falling asleep. Kiryu got exhausted really easily by social interaction and he'd had a lot of it, and was ready to fall alseep as soon as his head fell on the pillow. Yusei sat up from his place on the couch. 

  
"Are you not sharing with me?" They'd done it in Satellite since they were little kids, any time they were sleeping in the same room, they'd share a bed and cuddle. Mainly for warmth, but for other things as they got older. 

"I - no," Kiryu sighed, shifting awkwardly. "That isn't a good idea," 

  
"Come on," Yusei groaned, not getting his hint. "Kiryu, you're my best friend. If we can't be intimate like this, there's no way you'll trust me to help you get over your addiction,"

  
It wasn't really about trust, more about avoiding something awkward. But Kiryu resentfully grabbed his blanket from the bed, lying as little spoon with Yusei on the couch and tugging it over their fully-dressed forms. Dammit, he felt wide awake now. 


End file.
